Thursday, April 22, 2010

Asian Garden (Thai and Filipino. Never really a fan of multiple kitchens in restaurants, but we tried it and were addicted. When we asked the waiters what nationality the cook is, he proudly said they have two cooks, one Thai and one Filipino! We’ve been regulars ever since.)

Monday, April 12, 2010

I have to make this blog posting because of my rights given to me by all the Sex And The City DVDs I own. Contrary to perception, the upcoming SATC2 movie (trailer here) will NOT be featuring a single scene from Abu Dhabi, even though the name is mentioned all over the place. All the scenes were shot in Morocco.

So how did this all happen? Well, how should I put this kindly. It seems there is a beauty competition for international tourism spotlight. Somehow AD decides to let its prettier neighbor to do the catwalk bearing its name - All in the name of boosting tourism! Ironically given the first SATC movie was pretty much banned in UAE, I doubt the new one will get shown here.

Don’t get me wrong, the city has its own charm – just not what is portrayed in the movie! Will the real Abu Dhabi please stand up?

Friday, April 2, 2010

The National published two interesting articles on UAE lifestyle today. One of them is about how the car crashes in UAE costs Dhs 21 Billion (Eur 4 Billion or US$ 6 Billion) a year, equivalent to one eighth of the country’s oil export. This is in addition to the ~1,000 lives the crashes cause each year. *Gulp!*

The other one was about Emirati young women’s spending habit and seemed less alarming until I started reading it. Here are some excerpts from the article – yes, I know they only represent individual views, but you can get a glimpse through their situation:

Mai Mohammed, 21, from Abu Dhabi, one of those taking part in the ZU (N.B. Zayed University) discussion, says she spent up to Dh3,000 (N.B. Eur 600 or US$ 900) per week at the boutiques in the malls of Dubai with her friends.

“The pressure is not on me. It’s on my dad and my mum. We’re girls and we have to look after our fashion and style,” said Ms Mohammed, a fourth-year student. “It’s my parents who are under pressure. They’re the ones who pay.”

And although they do tell her to watch her spending, her tastes have grown expensive.

“Chanel, for instance, it’s my number one brand,” she said. “My parents want to give me what I want.”

Ms Mohammed’s room has a separate dressing area that houses three wardrobes; one for abayas (N.B. see photo below), another for jeans and T-shirts and a third for accessories. She said she thinks she has about 30 name-brand handbags – Chanel, Dior and Fendi. Her most expensive is a classic red Chanel bag she bought in London for about Dh16,500.

Photo courtesy of The National. A black abaya robe can cost up to 2,000 dhs.

….

“In the first year [at a university], there’s pressure when you see all the other girls. Then you get used to it,” said Mariam al Amimi. “In my first year, I bought a lot of clothes. I went a whole term without repeating any of them.”

Fatima Abdulrahman, 23, agreed: “In the first year, everyone wants to show off.”

The students said that they felt that because they wore abayas, they had to spend a little more on accessories like phones, make up and shoes in order to express their fashion sense and individuality. Some girls like their nail polish to match their BlackBerry cases, for example.

“Sometimes we want to show off, sometimes we want to show off who we are,” said Sarah al Dhaheri, 20.